Charles piez



(No Model) 0i PI EZ. VALVE FOR GONVEYER GHUTES N 0. 591,29, Patented0013.5,189?

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES PIEZ, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE LINK-BELTENGINEERING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

VALVE FOR CONVE'YER-CHU'TES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 591,292, dated October5, 1897.

Application filed November 7, 1896- Serial No. 611,420. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES PIEZ, a citizen of the United States,residing in Philadelphia,

My invention is especially adapted for use when material in large lumps,such as largesized coal, is to be loaded into the buckets. I find inpractice that small material will flow from the chute into the bucketsin a steady stream, while large material requires a very large openingfor a free discharge, and this discharge is uneven, causing some of thebuckets to be overcharged, while others are nndercharged; but by myinvention I am enabled to so regulate the discharge of material that allthe buckets will be loaded with the same amount of material.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional viewof sufficient of a conveying apparatus to illustrate my invention, theconveyer being in section; and Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the valvewhich I provide at the end of the chute.

A is suflicient of an endless-chain bucket conveyer to illustrate myinvention, the buckets Cb being secured to the chain-links a, and thelinks are provided with wheels a adapted to the tracks B. Eachconveyerbucket has a hood a so that the bucket can be reversedon theupper run without discharging the material.

A charging-opening c is left in the front of the bucket, so as toreceive the material discharged from the chute. I do-not claim this formof conveyer, as my invention can be used in connection with other formsof conveyers as well.

D D are chutes which are arranged at any incline, and each communicateswith a hopper or bin D.

In fe'eding'small material, such as smallsized coal and grain, to theconveyor the valve 'will have a regular flow, but large material,

such as broken coal, cannot be fed in an even stream from the hopper.The opening connecting the hopper with the chute must be considerablylarger than the ordinary opening to prevent the bridging of thematerial, but this opening is of necessity too large to allow fortheeven flow of material. Sometimes the material will flow so as tooverload the buckets, and at other times it will be clogged, so thatVery little material will escape into the buckets, but by providing avalve at the outer end of the chute which will have a regular motion aseach bucket comes under it I am enabled to bank up the material in thechute and feed at intervals a given quantity sulficient to properly loadeach bucket, as it will be understood that if the buckets areovercharged a waste of material naturally results.

E is a valve at the end of a chute, and in the present instance thisvalve has two arms E, pivoted at e to the sides of the chute, and thesearms are extended beyond the pivots and are preferably slotted, andadapted to the slot in each arm is a pin f, projecting from a bar F,hung by links f from any suitable support.

Connected to the bar F is a rod G, which in turn is connected to thecrank it of the shaft H, adapted to suitable bearings. This shaft H isdriven from the shaft A of the conveyer mechanism, in the presentinstance through an inclined shaft 11 and bevel-gears, as shown in Fig.1, so that the valve will open the chute when the mouths of the bucketsare in proper position.

Thevalve moves from the bottom up, so as to cut up through the material,preventing the flow when the valve is in the position shown in Fig. 1;but when the valve is lowered the material will freely flow from thechute. By this construction I avoid any clogging whatever as the Valvemoves up through the material.

In the drawings Ihave shown two chutes, each provided with a valve. Thevalve of one chute is coupled to the reciprocating bar F, while theother valve is disconnected. By

this arrangement I can operate any one valve of a series, so that theconveyercan be loaded with different grades of material.

It will be understood that While my invention is adapted especially tolumpy material, such as broken coal, it can be used on finer materialwith the same result, although a valve in this case is not necessary topropcrly fill the buckets.

I claim as my invention 1. lhe combination of a conveyer, a feedi chute,a valve at the end of the feed-chute adapted to travel in a segment of acircle, arms on the said valve pivoted to the chute, said arms havingextensions, a bar adapted to engage with the said extensions, linkssuspcndin g the said bar, a driving-shaft, a crank thereon and a rodconnecting the said crank to the bar, substantially as described.

2. The combination of a series of feedthe conveyer-buckets, a valve forthe feedchute acting intermittently to cut off the flow of material fromthe chute during the travel of the conveyer so as to uniformly load thebuckets, and means connecting the valve with the driving mechanism ofthe conveyer, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing Witnesses.

CHARLES IIEZ.

Vitnesses:

WILL. A. BARR, Jos. lI. KLEIN.

